Friday, September 19, 2014

Global leaders arrive in New York – can they make progress on a new set of Development Goals?



By Steve Lewis from RESULTS UK

From Monday onwards Presidents and Prime Ministers will arrive in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Among the issues they will grapple with are two of special interest to RESULTS and the development community – firstly how to tackle Climate Change, and secondly to make progress on fixing a new set of development goals.

Alongside the political leaders, leaders of all the major development institutions will be in New York, among them many of the agencies that RESULTS works with on a daily basis. Institutions such as GAVI (The Global Vaccine Alliance); GPE (The Global Partnership for Education) and SUN (Scaling Up Nutrition) hold events to publicise new successes or discuss innovations. RESULTS UK will be present during ‘UNGA week’, along with our partners from Canada, the EU, Kenya, India and of course the USA.

An international consortium of NGOs called “Beyond2015” have been working together to urge global leaders to set ambitious targets for the next set of Development Goals, to start in 2016. The current Millennium Development Goals run from 2000 to 2015.  Last week Beyond 2015 in the UK asked Development Minister Lynn Featherstone to explain what the UK is hoping to achieve from the UN discussions.

The  post 2015 negotiations will be one of our top priorities in New York” , said Ms Featherstone. “UN negotiations so far have made some good progress, but there is much work to do. The current draft set of goals needs to be more concise, compelling and implementable.”

The UK has shown leadership on setting strong development goals. But efforts to combat poverty will be totally undermined if Climate Change is not reversed. If the global climate does rise by 2 degrees we will face a very challenging situation – crop failures, steeply rising hunger, mass migration, to name just a few examples of what the world will face”.

The UK will be represented in New York by deputy PM Nick Clegg. The government is proud of recent progress on UK aid. A bill is moving through parliament to guarantee in law the current 0.7% of Gross National Income for international development. The second reading of the bill was supported by 166 MPs, with only 6 votes against. This will be used in New York as a ‘good example’, to encourage other countries to raise the aid contributions. As Lynn Featherstone described it: “We need to broaden the shoulders of the aid effort…. at present the same countries are supporting most of development programmes. We need a wider set of contributors.”

RESULTS and other Beyond 2015 agencies will be listening closely to the sessions next week to keep the UK to its word. And to try to encourage other countries to also increase their commitment. We are insistent that the next development framework includes ambitious goals – and that this time the goal is not a reduction in poverty but an end to extreme poverty by 2030.

Steve Lewis from RESULTS UK will be in New York next week. Please follow this blog next week to get updates from the UN and find out what has been achieved.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of RESULTS Australia.



Tuesday, September 16, 2014

RESULTS Australia welcomes UK aid bill – a huge wake up call for Australia



                                                                                                                                        photo: RESULTS UK

On Friday 12 September, the UK House of Commons voted to progress a bill bringing them a step closer to having laws that commit 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) to international aid. This is truly historic for the UK but in stark contrast to Australia’s aid level which is less than half this and falling.

What is especially impressive is that a predominantly Conservative British government - in the middle of a slow recovery from a dramatic financial crisis - not only managed to reach 0.7% but will likely preside over it being enshrined in law to lock this commitment in for the foreseeable future. 

In contrast, Australia’s aid has declined from 0.35% of GNI to 0.32% of GNI in the last two years. 

“This is a huge wake up call to our own Government and other political parties that it can be done. Wouldn’t it be inspiring to see this type of cross-party support here?” said RESULTS Australia CEO, Maree Nutt. 
  
While the UK bill is a private member’s bill, members of all political parties in the House of Commons showed very strong support for the objectives and provisions of the bill.

“Its disappointing that here in Australia, successive governments have backed away from what was a bipartisan commitment to reach 0.5% of GNI by 2015-16. This had not been possible if the commitment been legislated.” Ms Nutt added. 
    
The UK was contributing only 0.32% of GNI in aid in 2000 (the same as Australia's current level of aid), and the sustained growth in the UK’s aid since then demonstrates what is possible with political vision and commitment. 

“The current cross-party support for maintaining the level of aid through legislation is a tribute to the consistent work of global poverty campaigners in the UK, not least our colleagues at RESULTS UK”  Ms Nutt said.  

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Welcome to the family!



by Gina Olivieri, Grassroots Engagement Manager RESULTS Australia

On Sunday, August 31 2014, I welcomed a brand new addition to the RESULTS family. Not a baby, but a brand new group of enthusiastic advocates – RESULTS Melbourne!

Starting a new group is always an exciting and challenging process of networking, promoting, on-boarding, inviting, organising, rehearsing and preparing. It takes a lot of work to get a group of people together in the same place, at the same time, to talk to them about their role in ending extreme poverty.

Then you have to convince them to say yes to writing to their political representatives, and putting their passion for ending poverty out into public view by writing letters to the editor of their newspapers.

Not always an easy sell, believe it or not.

I am always in awe of the people who come along to a group launch event, perhaps after only hearing about RESULTS in passing – arriving with an understanding of the problem of poverty then putting their hand up to be part of the solution.

It takes a lot of guts to be a RESULTS group member. You really are signing up to ‘put yourself out there’ and challenge your comfort zone. Talking to members of parliament is not something many people choose to do with their spare time.

But it is what’s necessary to bring about the kind of changes we’re after; to create the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty, and to empower individuals to have breakthroughs in exercising their personal and political power.

The next RESULTS group to be launched will be RESULTS Perth – October 2014. If you are interested in joining this group or any other please contact info@results.org.au 

Monday, August 25, 2014

Insights from AIDS2014

 
 RESULTS advocate Jeremy Picone with the #DeadlyDuo TB and HIV

AIDS2014 was the 20th International AIDS Conference and was held in Melbourne from the 20th – 25th of July 2014. The Conference had a very somber beginning with the loss of a number of delegates in the MH17 airline tragedy.  Nonetheless it proceeded, as it should have, and was a great tribute to those lost who had dedicated so much of their lives to improving the health and well being of others.

Over 14,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries, including 1,200 journalists convened at AIDS2014. There were those working in the field of HIV, as well as policy makers, persons living with HIV and other individuals committed to ending the pandemic. It was chance to assess where we are, evaluate recent scientific developments, lessons learnt and collectively chart a course forward.

Following on from the RESULTS National Conference  RESULTS staff, volunteers and Board members joined our global health advocacy partners from  ACTION at AIDS2014 with the purpose of profiling the issue of tuberculosis (TB)  in the fight against HIV and AIDS, as well as the important role of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in combatting these diseases.

These efforts were also greatly enhanced by working closely with international superstar and humanitarian Ms. Yvonne Chaka Chaka. The media that we were able to generate in the lead up to the Conference events also helped us to secure high profile meetings.

We were also proud that, for the first time ever, at an International AIDS Conference, TB was recognized as a neglected issue in the fight against AIDS, and this deadly duo was spotlighted with a dedicated TB+HIV Networking Zone.

Why was it important to profile TB and an AIDS conference?

TB is the leading killer of people living with HIV, causing one in five HIV-related deaths. TB is the most common presenting illness among people living with HIV, including those who are taking antiretroviral treatment. At least one-third of the 34 million people living with HIV is infected with latent TB and those co-infected with TB and HIV are 21-34 times more likely to develop active TB. So in reality, TB and HIV are two diseases that often attack as one.

The substantial progress made in the fight against HIV over the past years is threatened by the neglect of tuberculosis (TB). By ignoring TB, we risk undermining the huge financial investments made to help people living with HIV.

A new research report was released by ACTION at AIDS2014 entitled From Rhetoric to Reality: An Analysis of Efforts to Scale Up The Response to TB-HIV. It showed that joint TB-HIV activities are neglected by HIV programs and overwhelmingly carried out by TB programs, and that global guidelines to address TB-HIV have not been prioritized by leading donors and affected countries.


Here, three of RESULTS Australia's attendees share some personal insights

Maree Nutt, CEO:

It was very inspiring (and at times overwhelming) to be part of such an amazing conference where so many people, institutions, governments and organisations come together united for a common cause. Our ACTION partners, our staff and volunteers did an incredible job highlighting the issue of TBHIV as well as the role of the Global Fund in a variety of forums. Often with Yvonne Chaka Chaka by our side, we were also able to secure several meetings with senior government officials and parliamentarians during the week

Sarah Kirk, Global Health Campaign Manager (Tuberculosis):

The TB/HIV Networking Zone was a buzzing place during the conference. TB activists from all over the world presented, discussed their projects, argued for new initiatives and shared their wisdom.

The thing that struck me the most was how common TB really is – we hear statistics like 1/3 of the world is infected with latent TB, and in some populations (prisoners and miners), this can be up to 90%. However we don’t often hear about people who were happily going about their everyday lives before they got TB. Housewives, school boys, nurses, builders, journalists, grandmas, nuns and researchers. So many people from all over the world “I tested positive for TB” “I was treated for TB”.

For something as deadly as TB, it is frightening how ordinary and normal it is to have to take a 6 month-2 year course of drugs and injections.

The thing is, everyone at that conference were the lucky ones. They responded to treatment, they “only” caught TB, not MDR or XDR TB. They “only” had years of drugs with terrible side effects.

Lucky huh.


Nicole So, Volunteer and #DeadlyDuo Mascot:

I have never been inside a mascot costume before. It was heavy and cumbersome.

Mostly, people wanted to hug me. Or pretend to fight me. But one lady chased and punched me. The force rattled me and almost made me lose my balance. I couldn’t see her, the costume takes away most of my peripheral vision as well as give me blurry vision. But I could hear her say, ‘I hate you. I hate you. You took my brother. I hate you.’

Before this happened, we posed for lots of photos. It was fun and people were often amused to see us. But this incident made it real, it caused me to think about the harsh reality of so many People Living with HIV and AIDS, and the repercussions on the lives of their loved ones.

HIV causes the progressive failure of the immune system allowing for opportunistic infections to take hold. TB is the number one killer of PLWHA. Perhaps it was TB that took her brother’s life.

This emphasised the need to further our message of the important of TB and HIV coinfection. No one was punching TB!


Click here for some photos from  the very colourful AIDS2014





Monday, August 18, 2014

From Clicktivist to Advocate

Today marks 500 days until the target date to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. As the momentum speeds up, what can we do to assist? Nicole So decided to get more involved and effective in doing her bit to help meet these important goals. Here she tells of her journey from 'clicktivist' to advocate. 

by Nicole So, Citizen Advocate

Less than a year ago, I knew nothing about advocacy.

This time last year, I was nothing more than a clicktivist. A person that cared enough to share a heart-breaking picture of a child living in poverty via my Twitter account, but didn’t quite know what else she could do.

I found RESULTS through a job advertisement for Global Health Campaign Manager. A position that I did not have the experience or qualifications for which to apply, but something about this word, advocacy, grabbed my attention.

Defined by Dictionary.com as ‘the act of pleading for, supporting, or recommending; active espousal.’

OK, that didn’t clear anything up...

Upon further research I realised:
  • Words with Friends point value for advocacy is 21 points!
  • Google images relates advocacy to people holding hands and/or megaphones.
  • Advocacy in Portuguese is advocacy.
None of these amazing fun facts actually helped me understand advocacy better. When I finally clicked through to the RESULTS website I had a lot of questions. The biggest one was who can I contact to ask more questions, the website had so many words, flashing images, and tabs. It was overwhelming to know where to start. So, I retreated to my safe place - Facebook.

Thankfully, RESULTS has a Facebook page or my journey in advocacy could have ended right there. This is the first post that I saw:



I am not sure what intrigued or terrified me more, the idea of speaking with my local member of parliament, who happens to be the Hon. Joe Hockey, or travelling to Canberra with strangers. I stared at my screen, stupefied, for five minutes before I sent this short email to Gina the Grassroots Engagement Manager:

Hello,

My name is Nicole. I am interested to help speak to MPs in Canberra about poverty.

Please let me know more information.

Thank you.

Regards, Nicole

When my mum said, ‘don’t get into a car with strangers’, I think she meant to say, ‘except if the driver is the CEO of a non-profit organisation who is driving you to Canberra to talk to MPs about poverty’. If not, sorry mum.

That was in September 2013, fast forward to June, 2014: I am in the foyer of the Doubletree Hotel in Arlington, Virginia at the RESULTS 2014 International Conference. It is 9:00am, but my body thinks it is 11:00pm, so I rely on unrelenting enthusiasm to keep me vertical.

Plus caffeine.

The first workshop was titled ‘Who Do You Want to Be in the World?: Leadership Tips for Everyone’. I sat sheepishly at the end of a row, towards the back. Close enough so that I can see the screen without my glasses, but far back enough to melt into a sea of faces. I wasn’t sure that I had anything important to contribute, but I was wrong. Turns out, as a Citizen Advocate, I am the most important part.

Sam Daley-Harris, the founder of RESULTS opened the day with a powerful speech, reminding all of us that ordinary citizens can do extraordinary things. A part of our potential and privilege as citizens of a democratic nation is the freedom to engage and connect with our government. This is something that not enough of us are taking advantage of. The power to change the world for the better, was hidden in the idea of advocacy the whole time.

Next, Rev. Lisa Marchal captivated me with the story of her journey to working with RESULTS (US). It began with a humble recollection of her first encounter with a Person Living with HIV and the stigma she witnessed amongst her friends and family. She emphasised the necessity for a good personal story to not only teach someone how to act - but to inspire them to act. A good story can communicate morals and values through emotions and can bring global issues to a personal level. I wanted one of those, a story to bewitch, and to embolden change.

I have been to conferences before, ones where people talk at you, where you’re expected to write notes quietly, and not interact. This was not one of those. The minutes went by and I felt the community atmosphere grow. Each session was peppered with audience participation, and we were encouraged to give feedback and ask questions. I felt like I was a part of something bigger, like a cog in a well-oiled advocacy machine.

After each speaker, I was sure that my glass was too full of inspiration, I could not possibly have room for more. But the conference just kept handing me a bigger glass.

Perhaps, it was between:
  • former Prime Minister and Board Chair of GPE, Julia Gillard passionately advocating for universal quality education;
  • or the dizzying scrimmage to get this photo with President of the World Bank, Dr. Jim Kim after he spoke fondly of his experiences with RESULTS;

That I stopped to ask myself, How did I get here?
 
Well, the ingenuity of aeronautical engineering had a hand, but it was advocacy. Advocacy got me from Sydney, Australia to Washington DC, USA.

It empowered me as much as I use it to empower politicians to act on alleviating poverty.

Less than a year ago, I knew nothing about advocacy.

Now, I am a Citizen Advocate, and I know what it means. It means that I am one of many big-hearted people around the world in the RESULTS family, who care enough to speak loudly about the global issues that matter, for the betterment of those who are voiceless.

And Google images was right, advocacy was about holding hands and a megaphone.

So, thank you to my friends at RESULTS (Australia) who held my hand and helped me find my voice, but especially to Gina who gave me a megaphone.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

AIDS 2014 – Where can the Global Fund obtain additional funding?

Mark Rice, Aaron Oxley, Carol Nyirenda and Christoph Benn

By Mark Rice, RESULTS Australia's Global Health Campaigns Manager

RESULTS Australia staff and enthusiastic volunteers joined our ACTION partners,13,600 delegates and 6,000 visitors to the Global Village at the AIDS 2014 Conference in Melbourne on 20 to 25 July.  Our daily updates during the week shared some of the excitement and highlights from the Conference. Beyond these highlights, it is also important to note how well we met RESULTS Australia’s first objective for AIDS 2014, which was to obtain a commitment from the Australian Government for an additional contribution of $125 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in 2014 to 2016.

In his address to the Opening Ceremony of the Conference, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss only restated the Government’s three-year commitment of $200 million announced last December.   However, we may have more time than we had anticipated to seek a supplementary payment by Australia to the Global Fund.

At a session on Closing the Resource Gap for the Global Fund in 2014 to 2016 that RESULTS Australia organised at AIDS 2014, Dr Christoph Benn, Global Fund External Relations Director, indicated that the United States Government may extend an offer of a matching contribution to other Governments’ pledges, originally due to expire in September, by several months.  If an additional Australian pledge is to have the maximum impact, it is essential that the Government announces it while the US matching funding is still available.
      
This means that RESULTS Australia can continue to seek a supplementary contribution for the 2014 to 2016 period over the rest of this year, before we switch our focus to requesting a significant contribution by Australia in 2017 to 2019.  Dr Benn noted that the next Replenishment Conference for the Global Fund is likely to take place in mid-2016, so we would need to start campaigning on pledges from early 2015 to increase our chances of success.

The other presentations and discussion at the session on Closing the Resource Gap for the Global Fund concentrated on how to obtain additional funding from established donors, new national donors and private donors:

The increased and early UK pledge:   RESULTS UK’s Executive Director, Aaron Oxley, explained some of the factors that contributed to the pledge of up to £1 billion ($A 1.8 billion) by the UK Government, announced ahead of the December 2013 pledging conference:
  • Having a firm, cross-party political commitment to increase overall aid by the UK meant that extra funding was available. Campaigners had strong evidence to argue the Global Fund is an excellent use for increased UK aid and in strong alignment with UK’s own goals and objectives.
  • Campaigners helped create political space for a large increase by having a specific request of £1 billion. This was double the amount the UK had contributed in 2010 to 2012, and campaigners used this number consistently in communication with the public and MPs, highlighting the impact it could have on the three diseases.
  • By having strong relationships with Government officials, RESULTS UK and other organisations made a credible commitment to create a strong positive (or negative) public response to a UK pledge. They collectively delivered on that commitment with an overwhelmingly positive response.
Kenya becoming a first-time donor:   Allan Ragi, Executive Director of KANCO, set out how campaigners in Kenya had obtained support from the Kenyan Government for its first-time Global Fund contribution of $2 million announced in December 2013.  The key elements in this success were:
  • Relating the request for Global Fund contributions to the provisions in the Constitution of Kenya to rights to services, including health services. 
  • Having both State Governors and members of the national parliament take up the request for Kenya to become a contributor.
Zambia as a potential donor:  Carol Nyirenda, Public Health Patient Advocate for CITAM+, explained that campaigners in Zambia are seeking additional domestic spending on health by the Zambian Government, so it can use contributions by donors more effectively, and is also asking Zambia to become a Global Fund contributor.  An important role for campaigners in Zambia is to educate Parliamentarians and officials on both the need for health programs, and the process for obtaining resources from the Global Fund.  Members of RESULTS Australia would be familiar with the role we also have of educating our Parliamentarians on issues, as well as making specific requests for action.

Private sector contributors:  Dr Benn noted that the business sector will support the Global Fund if their contribution is consistent with their business goals – for example, mining companies operating internationally have an interest in a healthy workforce.  If we as advocates know of businesses which are potential contributors, the Global Fund would welcome receiving contact details from these businesses.

These lessons from other countries will be valuable for us in seeking further contributions from the Australian Government in the current and future Global Fund replenishments.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

The 2014 State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report Emphasises Resilience

photo by BRAC

by Mark Rice, RESULTS Australia's Global Health Campaigns Manager

Microfinance (the provision of credit and financial services to the poorest people) has been one of RESULTS Australia’s advocacy priorities for many years.  The lack of access to financial services adds to the vulnerability of poor people, as they are unable to obtain credit on reasonable terms to start or grow small enterprises, obtain insurance to protect against unexpected costs or loss of income or have a safe place for savings.  Therefore, increasing access to financial services is an important strategy in poverty reduction.

RESULTS Australia has been a strong supporter of the Microcredit Summit Campaign  since its launch in 1997.  The original goal of the Campaign was to reach 100 million of the world’s poorest families – those living on less than $US 1.25 per person per day - with credit and other financial services by 2005.  In 2006, the Campaign took on two new goals for 2015:
  •  Reaching 175 million poorest families with microfinance. 
  • Helping 100 million families lift themselves out of extreme poverty.

From 1997 to 2010, the Microcredit Summit Campaign had been able to report phenomenal growth in the number of the poorest people accessing credit and financial services, with the numbers increasing from 8 million people in 1997 to 138 million in 2010.

Resilience: The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2014   was launched last month and provides an update on what is happening in client numbers, and also on innovations in microfinance that are better meeting the needs of people who are living in extreme poverty and building the resilience of clients. 

In 2010, the strong growth of microfinance came to an abrupt halt, as the State of Andhra Pradesh in India, which had been a hotspot for growth in microfinance, introduced restrictive new regulations on microfinance operations, designed to address the massive over-indebtedness and aggressive collection practices by some institutions caught up in a fever of sustained double-digit growth in client numbers.

In 2011, the Microcredit Summit Campaign reported that, for the first time since 1997, the total number of borrowers, and the number of very poor borrowers, both declined. The latest State of the Campaign Report shows that in 2012 (the latest available information) the total number of clients rebounded to 204 million, while the number of poorest clients continued to fall, from 124 million to 116 million.

The chart below shows the long-term growth and recent interruption of growth in the number of very poor borrowers.


This result seems like bad news, suggesting that microfinance institutions are becoming less focussed on serving the poorest people.  However, Microcredit Summit Campaign Director Larry Reed explains that these results are more encouraging than they seem;
  “We found that most of the decline can be explained by MFIs making increased use in recent years of poverty measurement tools like the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) or the Poverty Assessment Tool (PAT) in which they often found that they were overestimating their poverty outreach. In the long run, we believe that increased use of these tools will lead to more people in extreme poverty being reached with products and services that better meet their needs. We’ve already seen this start to happen in the Philippines, where 10 of the largest MFIs began using the PPI at the same time. This led these MFIs to begin looking at what prevented people living in extreme poverty from becoming clients and to developing policies, systems, and services that could include the poorest. As a result, the numbers of poorest clients started going up again in 2012.”

The 2014 State of the Campaign Report highlights some strategies that microfinance institutions and governments can adopt to assist the poorest people move out of poverty:
  • Providing health education, financing, and products through the existing channels for delivering microfinance.
  • Building agricultural value chains that reach small scale producers in rural areas.
  • Using digital cash and banking agents to deliver financial services at much lower costs.
  • Combining conditional cash transfers with ultra-poor graduation programs to provide pathways out of poverty for massive numbers of people.

 At around the same time as the release of the 2014 State of the Campaign Report, the Australian Government released its aid policy statement, Australian Aid: promoting prosperity, increasing stability, reducing poverty.   Three of the priorities the Government has set for the aid program are:
  • Promoting private sector development.
  • Building resilience (including disaster risk reduction and social protection).
  • Gender equality and empowering women and girls.

Effective microfinance programs are relevant to all of these objectives.  For example, microfinance institutions can offer insurance and loans to rebuild businesses after a natural disaster (adding to resilience) and the majority of clients of microfinance institutions are women (as they have most difficulty in accessing mainstream financial services and are most likely to use additional income to benefit their families).

Therefore, it is essential for us to continue to call on the Australian Government to incorporate microfinance in its aid to countries in the Asia-pacific region.  

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Every child's right to a quality education - making it a reality


by Camilla Ryberg, RESULTS Australia's Online Communications and Education Manager

It sounds obvious and we’ve heard it many times before. Every child has the right to a quality education.

So how is it that a few weeks ago we were told that there were 57 million primary school-aged children not in school and today there are 58 million according to newly released data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics?

We are clearly not doing enough to make the right of every child to an education a reality. Indeed, world-renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs recently called universal basic education the “millennium goal everyone forgot”.

On 26 June, leaders from around the world came together at the Global Partnership for Education’s (GPE) second replenishment conference in Brussels to address this discrepancy.

Hosted by the European Commission, the conference brought together 800 delegates including more than 40 ministers, education experts, and representatives from multilateral organisations, civil society, business and youth leaders from 91 countries.

Pledges of more than US$28.5 billion in additional funding for education for millions of children in more than 60 developing countries were made. This is a significant step in the direction towards making education for all a reality.

The outcome was driven by commitments by 27 developing country partners to increase their own education budgets by US$26 billion, or 25 percent, between 2015 and 2018.

Pledges were also made by many civil society organisations (including RESULTS), multilaterals, private philanthropic foundations and the first pledge of an innovating financing resource – loan buy-down arrangements from the Islamic Development Bank valued at more than US$400 million.

There were a few generous pledges from the United Kingdom, the European Commission and some Scandinavian countries, but most donors seemed not quite as willing as their developing country partners to make the right to education a reality.

Of the US$3.5 billion target, only US$2.1 billion was raised at the replenishment conference.

The US will contribute US$50 million in 2015 to the GPE fund – the equivalent of one hour of Pentagon spending.

Australia halved its contribution, announcing an AU$140 million four-year commitment (or less than US$33 million per year). Is this consistent with Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop’s assurance that education is a ‘central pillar’ of the Australian aid program?

Surely Australia can do better.

Overall, pledges by donors to the GPE Fund did increase more than US$600 million, or 40 percent, compared to the last replenishment pledging conference in Copenhagen in 2011.

GPE’s CEO Alice Albright said it is “a powerful start to achieving the goal we set of US$3.5 billion in donor commitments for the Partnership's four-year replenishment period. We’re looking forward to further commitments in the coming months”.

With aid to education falling by 10% in the last four years, and the target for the GPE fund not yet reached, donor country governments, including Australia, should meet the level of ambition set by developing country partners and those donors who have made significant contributions.

The Global Partnership for Education is the only multilateral partnership devoted to getting all children into school for a quality education in the world's poorest countries.

A child’s right to a quality education. It’s hard to imagine a better investment than making it reality.


Read our media release on the Australian pledge

Friday, June 27, 2014

The power of being non-partisan

 Jim Grant, former Executive Director of UNICEF, visits a classroom in Bangladesh. photo: UNICEF

by Gina Olivieri, RESULTS Australia's Grassroots Engagement Manager

"Why do you provide condoms to sex workers? Why do you provide lube to men who have sex with men? Why do you exchange needles for drug users?”

These are questions often posed to our advocate friends in Kenya who are working to eliminate HIV in their communities.

The underlying assumption of questions like this, particularly in conservative settings, seems to be ‘these people are dirty, they are not worthy of your help.’

The answer given by the Kenyan advocate, incidentally, was love. They show love to all people who need their help to protect themselves and the community from a killer virus; by simply helping them without judgment.

This comment and others throughout the day got me thinking of another story. They got me thinking of the late Jim Grant, hugely influential former Executive Director of UNICEF who led the ‘child survival revolution’ throughout the 80s and 90s. Grant was often criticised for being photographed shaking hands with dictators; before or after having just met with them to discuss some sort of child survival intervention such as vaccination or oral rehydration salts.

He ‘shook hands that were stained with blood, hands that had turned the keys on political prisoners, hands that had signed away human rights, hands that were deep in the country’s till.’
This was not taken well, as many thought he shouldn’t be tainting UNICEF’s name by associating with such corrupt and even evil regimes.

Grant’s answer was as pragmatic as you would expect – “We don’t like the President so the kids don’t get immunized? You want to wait to launch the campaign until all governments are respectable?”
Grant recognised that as advocates, we don’t always get to choose who has the key to unlock interventions that can save lives. We could probably individually find a reason to avoid engaging with every single political leader or person of influence; for reasons trivially annoying to morally reprehensible.

But if we avoid engaging with them, what do we gain? And more importantly, what do we lose?
We lose the opportunity to influence somebody to be a champion for child health. Despite their evil reputations and deeds, Jim Grant was able to convince some notorious dictators that child health was important and deserving of resources. Had he not done that, those children would have been in exactly the same state as before – dying of preventable diseases or dehydration for a lack of simple, inexpensive interventions.

Our power is in our non-partisan stance. If we eliminate individuals, or even whole sides of politics from the dialogue, we miss the opportunity to build champions, who we have seen from experience, can come from surprising places. They may not be the ones we would have chosen, but they are in a place of influence. It’s our job to ensure that influence is used well.

Reference: http://www.unicef.org/about/history/files/Jim_Grant_unicef_visionary.pdf

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Greater Impact through Partnership: 8 reasons to invest in the Global Partnership for Education

On June 26, 2014, leaders from around the world will convene at the Global Partnership for Education Pledging Conference to decide the future of education for children in the most poverty-stricken and conflict-affected countries on the planet. This brief explores 8 critical reasons why now, more than ever, donors and development actors must ambitiously support GPE’s work over the 2015-2018 period. Written with RESULTS Education for All campaign affiliates in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US, "Greater Impact Through Partnership: 8 reasons to invest in the Global Partnership for Education now more than ever" provides the critical information and data we need to move the Australian government to pledge AU$500 million over four years to the Global Partnership for Education.

Over the 8 weeks following the release of the brief, RESULTS and its affiliates developed an 8-part blog series covering each of the 8 reasons. Click on the image to read the relevant blog post.

http://resultsinternationalaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/reason-1-to-invest-in-gpe-we-cannot-end.html

http://resultsinternationalaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/reason-2-to-invest-in-global.html 

http://resultsinternationalaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/reason-3-global-partnership-for.html

http://resultsinternationalaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/over-eight-weeks-results-affiliates-in-u.html

http://resultsinternationalaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/reason-5-global-partnership-for.html


http://resultsinternationalaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/reason-6-global-partnership-is-taking.html


http://resultsinternationalaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/reason-7-global-support-to-basic.html 

http://resultsinternationalaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/reason-8-demand-for-global-partnership.html

Joining us in our campaign are world leaders and 98 Civil Society Organisations from around the world calling for generous support to the Global Partnership for Educatio.

And have you told the world what you have achieved #BecauseOfSchool?

Friday, June 6, 2014

Undernutrition is a smart development investment: Why delay?


By Tiruni Yasaratne, Global Health  Researcher Volunteer

In 2013, the Lancet published an ‘eyebrow raising’ statistic: undernutrition contributes to 45% of all child mortality worldwide. Of the seven million children around the world who die before their fifth birthday, nearly half of these die from undernutrition. Undernutrition, is in fact, a major global public health problem, with almost one in four children under-five stunted and 52 million children wasted.

The World Bank “At a glance” nutrition series shows that the economic costs of undernutrition include direct costs such as increased burden on health care systems, and indirect costs of lost productivity. Childhood anemia alone is associated with 5% drop in future adult wages!

Donor nations, countries and agencies came together in June 2013 at the Nutrition for Growth Summit in London, and made pledges for increased spending on nutrition interventions. Australia committed $40 million over four years for nutrition activities in the region.

A recent report, "Undernutrition in the Land of Rice", by RESULTS UK and RESULTS Australia on undernutrition in Cambodia reveals some distressing facts:
  • On average undernourished children enroll in school later and complete fewer years of school
  • Only a third of undernourished children go on to secondary school with completion rates very low 
  • Undernourished children have weakened immune systems and are more likely to contract communicable diseases (TB for example)  – Studies in India show that a patient who is diagnosed with TB and also undernourished is two times more likely to die than a non-malnourished TB patient!
  • Maternal undernutrition is high – Anaemia caused by low consumption of iron rich foods is very high in women of reproductive age and is a leading cause of maternal deaths and linked to adverse birth outcomes such as low weight babies. It also leads to reduced ability to concentrate, and ability to do manual labour.
Cambodia has an average economic growth rate of 7% per annum; yet 40% of its children under five are too short for their age. Where did Cambodia go wrong in relation to nutrition related investment?

A common understanding in the development community is that economic growth will improve nutrition. The Cambodian case proves otherwise.  Sadly, Cambodia is far from unique in struggling with this issue –14 countries have a child stunting rate of over 30% in the Asia Pacific region. 

Economic growth needs to be funneled in a targeted way to have an improvement on nutrition. Too often nutrition has been neglected, as there’s no easy single solution to implement. Our Cambodian report advocates for a stand alone indicator on nutrition and food security to be incorporated into the post-2015 development goals, to ensure nutrition is prioritised.

In a nutshell, Cambodia needs to invest more in nutrition interventions. But in a country with already competing development priorities, is it a cost effective option?

In 2013, the Lancet brought together the worlds nutrition experts, who found that a combination of ten interventions can make significant improvements in nutritional status at a relatively low cost.

Areas worthy of scale up include:
  • Infant feeding practices - Support early start of breastfeeding (within the hour), continued exclusive breastfeeding until age six months, and timely introduction of complementary foods;
  • Access to a diverse range of food through crop diversification;
  • Nutrition education, in schools and primary health care centres, and by community health workers;
  • Micronutrient fortification - According to the Micronutrient Initiative, “specifically providing vitamin A and zinc, provides the most beneficial return on investment of any development intervention”. Fortification is also most successful when it is mandated by law. 
  • Conditional Cash Transfers- These provide a small income to families, with a conditional element that encourages them to engage with social programmes, including health and primary education. Evidence from major programmes (e.g. in Mexico and Brazil) shows that the interventions are most effective when they reach children during their first two years of life.
  • Access to water and sanitation to combat disease - WHO estimates that 50% of undernutrition is associated with intestinal worm infections or repeated diarrhoeal episodes due to insufficient access to clean water and sanitation.
Overall, annually, Cambodia loses over US$134 million in GDP to vitamin and mineral deficiencies according to UNICEF and World Bank database sources. This holds back the country’s growth and ambition to reach upper middle income country status.

Amazingly, scaling up core micronutrient interventions would cost less than US$6 million per year. Addressing undernutrition is cost effective: Costs of core micronutrient interventions are as low as US$0.05–3.60 per person annually. Returns on investment areas high as 8–30 times the costs!

The World Bank states the returns on investment for addressing malnutrition include:

Source: The World Bank – Nutrition at a glance/Cambodia

Donor agencies, including Australia should publicise examples of their spending on nutrition interventions. Australia initiated the development of a holistic nutrition strategy soon after the London summit. However, due to changes in the aid programme in late 2013, there are no visible developments on it.

It is obvious that investing in nutrition programmes is tremendous value for money. With more bang for your buck, it is essentially an investment and not a cost. Keeping in line with new changes in Australian foreign aid whereby the Federal Government will soon introduce a performance evaluation system for foreign aid, with an emphasis on value for money, moving forward on the undernutrition strategy and developing comprehensive aid solutions to undernutrition is crucial for effective Australian aid.

Read the full report "Undernutrition in the Land of Rice"

Thursday, June 5, 2014

"Inspirational. Enriching. Regenerative." - Your experience at AIDS2014

Angie (far right) with RESULTS and ACTION friends at the AIDS march

AIDS2014 is the 20th International AIDS Conference and will be held in Melbourne from the 20th – 25th of July 2014. For the first time it will feature a dedicated hub for discussing the deadly duo of TB-HIV. Despite TB's status as the leading killer of people with HIV, responses to these two diseases are often disconnected, and collaboration on HIV and TB programs is weak in many places.
      
The TB/HIV Networking Zone at AIDS 2014 will provide a space for HIV and TB communities – researchers, affected communities, advocates, policy makers, donors, and more – to come together and chart a way forward for addressing these deadly diseases together.

We interviewed RESULTS Hobart Group Leader Angie about her experience at AIDS2012 and encourage all RESULTS advocates to consider joining in the activities at AIDS2014's Global Village following our National Conference.

1. What did you enjoy most about AIDS2012?
Being in Washington for AIDS2012 was an incredible experience. The Global Village was amazing and listening to such a variety of plenary speakers streamed live from the conference was a huge privilege. My favourite part was the AIDS march where thousands of people marched from the four corners of Washington to meet for a massive rally outside the White House! Incredible. And RESULTS marched with ACTION right up the front from our corner. Unbelievable!!

2. Describe your experience in 3 words.
Inspirational. Enriching. Regenerative.

3. Why do you think RESULTS advocates should join in with AIDS2014?
We need to learn from past mistakes with Malaria and TB that just because we 'cure' or 'eradicate' these diseases in our own country, it doesn't mean they are gone forever. We need to continue the fight for all three of these diseases, to get the best possible drugs and equipment to the wealthy and impoverished alike in all countries, and to eradicate AIDS, TB and Malaria across the world. WE ARE THAT GENERATION!! And if that fact ignites some passion in you to help fight this cause, AIDS2014 will inspire you beyond measure. Don't just think about it. DO IT!!!

4. What made your AIDS2012 experience unique? What did you get out of it that you couldn't get anywhere else?
I feel incredibly privileged that as a member of RESULTS working with the amazing advocates from ACTION, I was part of a movement that brought awareness to people from all over the world about TB and its relationship to HIV. There were so many people at the conference who wandered through the Global Village and almost fell over backwards when ACTION advocates would share this knowledge. The educative experience on a personal level was huge and bringing that awareness to others both in Washington and back home to Australia was life changing.

Don't forget to register for the RESULTS National Conference - and if you're keen to stay on and join in the activities at the TB-HIV Networking Zone at the AIDS2014 Global Village, please contact info@results.org.au

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Australia recommits to eradicating ancient disease

Photo credit: GAVI Alliance

RESULTS Australia media release

RESULTS International (Australia) applauds the commitment re-iterated by the Australian government on Sunday to eradicate polio from the entire world. 

Australia will be investing $100 million into the campaign, with the aim of eradicating polio completely by 2018. This investment not only honours an aid commitment made by the previous Labor government, but also shows the Abbott government's dedication to eradicating the disease by extending and increasing our commitment.

This investment will be hosted by the Global Polio Eradication initiative (GPEI), which is the coordinating body for all international agencies working to eliminate and eradicate polio.

Polio is a viral disease that is transmitted through contaminated food and water, and multiplies in the intestine. It can affect the central nervous system, and causes paralysis in one in every 200 infections.
Since its establishment in 1988, GPEI has successfully reduced polio cases by more than 99%, from more than 300,000 per year to just 417 cases in 2013.

The announcement by the Foreign Minister came with the opening of Rotary's 105th International Convention on Sunday. Hosted in Sydney this week, Rotary's annual convention was opened Sunday by the NSW Premier Mike Baird and Prime Minister Tony Abbott and expects to see more than 18,000 international Rotarians. 

"Eradicating polio around the world has been an Australian project," said Samantha Chivers, Global Health Campaign Manager at RESULTS Australia. 

"It was a Queensland Rotarian, Sir Clem Renouf, who lived through the eradication of smallpox and had the vision that polio could be eradicated in the same way," Samantha continued. 

"Australian aid and community support has been vital in supporting GPEI and keeping the issue high on the agenda. Now we have to up the ante, as that last 1% will be the hardest."

India, a country of over one billion people, saw its last case of polio in 2010, and was certified polio-free by the World Health Organisation in March this year. India joins the Pacific, Southeast Asian, European and American regions in being completely polio free.

Polio now remains endemic in only three countries: Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. However, cases are beginning to re-emerge in countries including Ethiopia, Iraq, and Israel. War-torn Syria, whose health system has collapsed, was polio-free for 14 years, and was re-infected with the virus from Pakistan.

At the beginning of May, the World Health Organisation declared that the spread of polio is an international public health emergency.

Endemic polio is preventable by vaccination, with oral vaccination of three drops being the preferred method so far.

"The public health community has seen great success with the oral vaccine. However, in order to completely eradicate polio and not just prevent infection in an individual, an injectable vaccine is needed, and this complicates the logistics and increases the price substantially" Samantha said.

The GAVI Alliance is the leading partnership providing vaccines to the developing world at low prices. GAVI announced earlier this year that it will begin supporting injectable polio vaccine (IPV) to 73 of the poorest countries in the world by the end of the year.

"We are very encouraged by the commitment made yesterday," Samantha said, "Increasing vaccination is a very effective use of our aid money. Now we need to see more support made to GAVI as well, so we can completely destroy this ancient disease forever."

Friday, May 23, 2014

REASON #8: Demand for the Global Partnership for Education is on the rise

Over eight weeks, RESULTS affiliates in the U.K., Australia, Canada, and the U.S. delve deeper into 8 key reasons to invest in the Global Partnership for Education. This week's post is by Camilla Ryberg at RESULTS Australia. You can read about reasons number 12345,  6 and 7

Click here to read the full RESULTS report Greater Impact Through Partnership: 8 Reasons to Invest in the Global Partnership for Education Now More Than Ever.



What difference can the Global Partnership for Education make - Lao PDR

This week I had the pleasure of meeting Hon Lytou Bouapao, the Vice Minister of Education of Lao PDR. He spoke frankly and enthusiastically of the difference the support by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is making in his country.

Lao PDR joined the Global Partnership for Education in 2009 and its children has benefited significantly as a result. For instance, the percentage of out-of-school children decreased from 11.5%  in 2009 to 4.1% in 2012.  The primary completion rate rose from 78% in 2009 to 95% in 2012, with the rate for girls rising from 74% to 93% over the same period. (Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics)

With challenges such as  a large disperse rural population encompassing many different languages and ethnic groups, an unwillingness by many parents to send girls to school and few qualified teachers, it is clear that a locally-specific and flexible approach to education is imperative.

GPE’s current project in Lao PDR reflects this need by focusing on community-based school construction, non-formal education, community-based school readiness programs, and a mobile teacher training program. The innovative School Meals Program that combines local food production, community trainings, and school interventions in health, sanitation, and hygiene was piloted by the Ministry of Education and Sports in 66 schools in 2012. It’s success has resulted in plans to expand it to nine districts in five provinces.

Not surprisingly Mr Bouapao and his government colleagues in Lao PDR are currently preparing another grant application.

Demand from citizens

The demand for education support is not just coming from high level ministers and governments. During a recent trip to Pakistan, the Global Partnership for Education CEO Alice Albright attended an event in Islamabad titled "Girls of Pakistan for Education", where hundreds of Pakistani girls and young women called on their government to support their education.  According to estimates by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics there are more than 3 million girls of primary school age who don't go to school in Pakistan, and 3.4 million adolescent girls who don't go to secondary school.

As citizens of low-income countries are becoming increasingly aware of their right to an education, they will continue to put pressure on their governments to deliver. When governments do not have sufficient funds implement their education plans, it makes sense they turn to the Global Partnership for Education for support.

Funds are urgently needed

With the proven effectiveness of GPE’s approach, it is no wonder that demand for the Global Partnership is on the rise. In 2013 alone, low-income country partners requested over US$1 billion from the Global Partnership for Education to support their national education plans. GPE anticipates that by the end of 2014, it will have provided over US$4 billion since its establishment in 2002 to support education in nearly 60 countries.

However, even this significant amount seems like a drop in the ocean if considering all anticipated program implementation grants over the 2013-2014 period. If GPE was to approve them all, a staggering US$585 million in additional funds may be required beyond existing inflows.

The Global Partnership is growing

Due in part to the Global Partnership for Education’s support, countries such as Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and post-conflict Afghanistan are now rolling out their first national education plans.

But not only has existing demand for GPE support exhausted the GPE Fund but the Global Partnership will likely grow over the 2015-2018 period. Having multiplied from 7 developing country partners in 2002 to 59 in 2014, the Global Partnership for Education today remains open to a total of 68 eligible countries.

Issues such as an increasing youth population, growing economic inequalities, and the impact of climate change will put increased pressure on low-income country governments. The currently high demand for GPE support will likely only increase.

In the Indo-Pacific region we have several eligible countries such as Tuvalu, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu which are not yet partners but who are likely to apply for GPE support in the near future.

As demand increases donor partners need to step up support

As we saw in last week’s blog post Reason #7, global support to basic education is drastically declining. It is now time for donors to step up to reverse this trend.

Australia saw brutal cuts to our foreign aid budget last week. However, we can still afford to pledge generously to the Global Partnership for Education for the period 2015-2018. Indeed, we can’t afford not to.

Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US are front-running proponents of global education and leaders in the development community writ large — a successful GPE replenishment and the education progress it promises depends on their ambitious commitment. In addition to the critically important bilateral support these countries will provide from now until 2018, the governments of Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US must seize the GPE Pledging Conference as an opportunity to provide the Global Partnership for Education the resources it needs to build strong, sustainable national education systems, end the learning crisis burdening much of the developing world, unlock education’s transformative powers, and deliver prosperity and stability to the world’s poorest populations in a post- 2015 world.
 

Friday, May 16, 2014

Reason # 7 to invest in the Global Partnership for Education: Global support to basic education is drastically declining

Over eight weeks, RESULTS affiliates in the U.K., Australia, Canada, and the U.S. delve deeper into 8 key reasons to invest in the Global Partnership for Education. This week's post is by Julie Savard-Shaw, Campaigns Officer at RESULTS Canada. You can read about reasons number 12345, and 6.

Click here to read the full RESULTS report Greater Impact Through Partnership: 8 Reasons to Invest in the Global Partnership for Education Now More Than Ever.



Reason #7 addresses the drastic decline in global support for basic education. As the pledging conference for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) approaches, it is essential to highlight the large financial gaps that exist in the education sector and reiterate the importance of education in eliminating poverty.

Following the global financial crisis, overall official development assistance levels declined significantly with the latest figures showing a 4 percent reduction in 2012 from a 2 percent reduction in 2011.[1] Of the remaining development assistance budget, commitments to education overall dropped by 27 percent from 2009 to 2011 and commitments to basic education dropped by 35 percent over the same period.[2]

Evidently, reduced commitments are being translated into reduced disbursements. Aid disbursements to the education sector declined by 9 percent between 2009 and 2012. Most alarmingly, basic education funding dropped 16 percent (or US$1 billion) between 2009 and 2012 at a time when there are still 57 million children of primary school age out of school.

Source: OECD CRS (using UNESCO definition of “education” and “basic education”)

What is more, basic education aid actually available to GPE developing country partners was cut by 23 percent from 2009 to 2012. Even though domestic spending on education is slowly increasing (see Reason #4) and remains the most important source of financing for the sector, aid for education is central to support low-income countries in achieving the Education for All goals.

During a recent multiparty delegation with Canadian Members of Parliament in Tanzania, I witnessed first-hand the dire conditions in which children study every day as a result of insufficient funds.  The Principal noted that due to the limited budget for education, priority is given to providing the necessary school supplies and paying teachers’ salary. The school had a good graduation rate and an almost equal girl to boy ratio. On paper, the school is faring well; however, that fails to represent the immense hole in the sunken ceiling because of mold or the absence of running water, electricity and classroom doors. That day, with the rain and wind, children were visibly shaking from the cold.

Education is currently underfunded by US$26 billion a year.[3]  Donors have the chance in June to reduce the education financial gap and pledge generously to reach the GPE’s replenishment target of US$3.5 billion to give millions of children the chance to receive quality basic education.

[1] http://www.campaignforeducation.org/docs/reports/GCE_EDUCATION_AIDWATCH_2013.pdf p.7
[2] http://www.results.org/uploads/files/Greater_Impact_Through_Partnership_-_8_Reasons_to_Invest_in_the_Global_Partnership_for_Education_Now_More_Than_Ever.pdf
[3] http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002256/225654e.pdf p.3